PNNL now has 4 AGU Fellows, the most of any D.O.E. national lab
July 30, 2015 
RICHLAND, Wash. - 2 researchers at the D.O.E.'s Pacific Northwest National Lab have been elected to the rank of Fellow in the American Geophysical Union. Alex Guenther and Phil Rasch join the class of 60 scientists being recognized by AGU for "exceptional scientific contributions and attained acknowledged eminence in the fields of earth and space science."
They join PNNL's Ruby Leung and Ghassem Asrar, bringing PNNL's total of AGU Fellows to 4 - the most of any D.O.E. national laboratory. Guenther and Rasch were the only D.O.E. national Lab staff members selected for the honor this year.
AGU is a professional, scientific organization representing in excess of 62,000 members in 144 countries. The AGU is the biggest organization in the world dedicated to advancing the earth and space sciences. No in excess of one-tenth of one percent of all members are selected for the rank of Fellow in any given year.
Alex Guenther
Guenther is a Lab Fellow at PNNL who is internationally acknowledged as an expert on the processes controlling chemical emissions from forests and other ecosystems and how these emissions affect air quality and regional and global climate. His research led to the development of the Model of Emissions of Gases and Aerosols from Nature, or MEGAN, an emissions estimate tool used by most Earth system models as well as by regulatory agencies.
Guenther earned a bachelor's degree in biology from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Wash., and both a master's degree and doctorate in civil and environmental engineering from Washington State University in Pullman.
Phil Rasch
Rasch is a Lab Fellow and is PNNL's chief scientist for climate science. He is internationally known for his work in general circulation, atmospheric chemistry, and climate modeling; particularly in the role of aerosols and clouds in the atmosphere. His research has focused on the processes that describe these components of the atmosphere, the computational details that are needed to describe them in computer models, and on their impact on climate.
Rasch earned bachelor's degrees in both atmospheric science and chemistry from the University of Washington in Seattle, and a master's degree and a doctorate in meteorology from Florida State University in Tallahassee. He is also a Fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Guenther and Rasch will be recognized with the rest of the 2015 class of Fellows at the AGU Fall meeting in San Francisco in December.
Tags: Environment, Fundamental Science, Awards and Recognizes, Climate Science
Interdisciplinary teams at Pacific Northwest National Lab address many of America's most pressing issues in energy, the environment and national security through advances in basic and applied science. Founded in 1965, PNNL employs 4,300 staff and has an yearly budget of in excess of $1 billion. It is managed by Battelle for the D.O.E.'s Office of Science. As the single biggest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, the Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information on PNNL, visit the PNNL News Center, or follow PNNL on Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn and Twitter.
